ABRAHAM -LINCOLN 


BY- GEORGE  *  BANCROFT 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

A  TRIBUTE 


BY 

GEORGE  BANCROFT 


NEW  YORK 

A.  WESSELS  COMPANY 
MCMVIII 


LIBRARY 

^UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVJS 


Copyright,  1908, 

A.  WKSSELS  COMPANY 

New  York 

September,  1908 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

A  TRIBUTE 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 


THAT  God  rules  in  the  affairs  of  men 
is  as  certain  as  any  truth  of  phys 
ical  science.  On  the  great  moving 
Power  which  is  from  the  beginning  hangs 
the  world  of  the  senses  and  the  world 
of  thought  and  action.  Eternal  wisdom 
marshals  the  great  procession  of  the 
nations,  working  in  patient  continuity 
through  the  ages,  never  halting  and  never 
abrupt,  encompassing  all  events  in  its  over 
sight,  and  ever  effecting  its  will,  though 
mortals  may  slumber  in  apathy  or  oppose 
with  madness.  Kings  are  lifted  up  or 
thrown  down,  nations  come  and  go,  repub 
lics  flourish  and  wither,  dynasties  pass 
away  like  a  tale  that  is  told;  but  nothing 
is  by  chance,  though  men,  in  their  igno- 
3 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
ranee  of  causes,  may  think  so.  The  deeds 
of  time  are  governed,  as  well  as  judged, 
by  the  decrees  of  eternity.  The  caprice  of 
fleeting  existences  bends  to  the  immovable 
Omnipotence,  which  plants  its  foot  on  all 
the  centuries  and  has  neither  change  of 
purpose  nor  repose.  Sometimes,  like  a 
messenger  through  the  thick  darkness  of 
night,  it  steps  along  mysterious  ways ;  but 
when  the  hour  strikes  for  a  people,  or  for 
mankind,  to  pass  into  a  new  form  of  being, 
unseen  hands  draw  the  bolts  from  the 
gates  of  futurity;  an  all-subduing  influ 
ence  prepares  the  minds  of  men  for  the 
coming  revolution;  those  who  plan  resist 
ance  find  themselves  in  conflict  with  the 
will  of  Providence  rather  than  with  human 
devices ;  and  all  hearts  and  all  understand 
ings,  most  of  all  the  opinions  and  influ 
ences  of  the  unwilling,  are  wonderfully 
attracted  and  compelled  to  bear  forward 
4 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
the  change,  which  becomes  more  an  obe 
dience  to  the  law  of  universal  nature  than 
submission  to  the  arbitrament  of  man. 

In  the  fullness  of  time  a  Republic  rose 
up  in  the  wilderness  of  America.  Thou 
sands  of  years  had  passed  away  before  this 
child  of  the  ages  could  be  born.  From 
whatever  there  was  of  good  in  the  systems 
of  former  centuries  she  drew  her  nourish 
ment;  the  wrecks  of  the  past  were  her 
warnings.  With  the  deepest  sentiment  of 
faith  fixed  in  her  inmost  nature,  she  dis 
enthralled  religion  from  bondage  to  tem 
poral  power,  that  her  worship  might  be 
worship  only  in  spirit  and  in  truth.  The 
wisdom  which  had  passed  from  India 
through  Greece,  with  what  Greece  had 
added  of  her  own;  the  jurisprudence  of 
Rome;  the  mediaeval  municipalities;  the 
Teutonic  method  of  representation;  the 
political  experience  of  England;  the  be- 
5 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

nignant  wisdom  of  the  expositors  of  the 
law  of  nature  and  of  nations  in  France 
and  Holland,  all  shed  on  her  their  select  - 
est  influence.  She  washed  the  gold  of 
political  wisdom  from  the  sands  wherever 
it  was  found;  she  cleft  it  from  the  rocks; 
she  gleaned  it  among  ruins.  Out  of  all 
the  discoveries  of  statesmen  and  sages,  out 
of  all  the  experience  of  past  human  life, 
she  compiled  a  perennial  political  philoso 
phy,  the  primordial  principles  of  national 
ethics.  The  wise  men  of  Europe  sought 
the  best  government  in  a  mixture  of  mon 
archy,  aristocracy,  and  democracy;  Amer 
ica  went  behind  these  names  to  extract 
from  them  the  vital  elements  of  social 
forms,  and  blend  them  harmoniously  in 
the  free  commonwealth,  which  comes 
nearest  to  the  illustration  of  the  natural 
equality  of  all  men.  She  intrusted  the 
guardianship  of  established  rights  to  law, 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
the  movements  of  reform  to  the  spirit  of 
the  people,  and  drew  her  force  from  the 
happy  reconciliation  of  both. 

Republics  had  heretofore  been  limited 
to  small  cantons,  or  cities  and  their  de 
pendencies  ;  America,  doing  that  of  which 
the  like  had  not  before  been  known  upon 
the  earth,  or  believed  by  kings  and  states 
men  to  be  possible,  extended  her  Republic 
across  a  continent.  Under  her  auspices 
the  vine  of  liberty  took  deep  root  and  filled 
the  land;  the  hills  were  covered  with  its 
shadow;  its  boughs  were  like  the  goodly 
cedars,  and  reached  unto  both  oceans. 
The  fame  of  this  only  daughter  of  free 
dom  went  out  into  all  the  lands  of  the 
earth;  from  her  the  human  race  drew 
hope. 

Neither  hereditary  monarchy  nor  hered 
itary   aristocracy   planted   itself   on   our 
soil;  the  only  hereditary  condition  that 
'7 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
fastened  itself  upon  us  was  servitude. 
Nature  works  in  sincerity,  and  is  ever 
true  to  its  law.  The  bee  hives  honey; 
the  viper  distills  poison ;  the  vine  stores 
its  juices,  and  so  do  the  poppy  and 
the  upas.  In  like  manner,  every  thought 
and  every  action  ripens  its  seed,  each 
according  to  its  kind.  In  the  indivi 
dual  man,  and  still  more  in  a  nation,  a 
just  idea  gives  life,  and  progress,  and 
glory;  a  false  conception  portends  disas 
ter,  shame,  and  death.  A  hundred  and 
twenty  years  ago  a  West  Jersey  Quaker 
wrote:  "This  trade  of  importing  slaves  is 
dark  gloominess  hanging  over  the  land; 
the  consequences  will  be  grievous  to  pos 
terity."  At  the  North  the  growth  of 
slavery  was  arrested  by  natural  causes ;  in 
the  region  nearest  the  Tropics  it  throve 
rankly,  and  worked  itself  into  the  organ 
ism  of  the  rising  States.  Virginia  stood 
8 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
between  the  two,  with  soil  and  climate  and 
resources  demanding  free  labor,  yet  capa 
ble  of  the  profitable  employment  of  the 
slave.  She  was  the  land  of  great  states 
men,  and  they  saw  the  danger  of  her  being 
whelmed  under  the  rising  flood  in  time  to 
struggle  against  the  delusions  of  avarice 
and  pride.  Ninety-four  years  ago  the 
legislature  of  Virginia  addressed  the  Brit 
ish  King,  saying  that  the  trade  in  slaves 
was  "of  great  inhumanity,"  was  opposed 
to  the  "security  and  happiness"  of  their 
constituents,  "would  in  time  have  the 
most  destructive  influence,"  and  "endan 
ger  their  very  existence."  And  the  King 
answered  them  that,  "upon  pain  of  his 
highest  displeasure,  the  importation  of 
slaves  should  not  be  in  any  respect  ob 
structed."  "Pharisaical  Britain,"  wrote 
Franklin  in  behalf  of  Virginia,  "to  pride 
thyself  in  setting  free  a  single  slave  that 
9 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
happened  to  land  on  thy  coasts,  while  thy 
laws  continue  a  traffic  whereby  so  many 
hundreds  of  thousands  are  dragged  into 
a  slavery  that  is  entailed  on  their  pos 
terity."  "A  serious  view  of  this  sub 
ject,"  said  Patrick  Henry  in  1773,  "gives 
a  gloomy  prospect  to  future  times."  In 
the  same  year  George  Mason  wrote  to 
the  legislature  of  Virginia:  "The  laws 
of  impartial  Providence  may  avenge 
our  injustice  upon  our  posterity."  Con 
forming  his  conduct  to  his  convictions, 
Jefferson,  in  Virginia,  and  in  the  Con 
tinental  Congress,  with  the  approval  of 
Edmund  Pendleton,  branded  the  slave 
trade  as  piracy;  and  he  fixed  in  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  as  the 
corner  stone  of  America:  "All  men  are 
created  equal,  with  an  unalienable  right  to 
liberty."  On  the  first  organization  of 
temporary  governments  for  the  conti- 
10 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
nental  domain,  Jefferson,  but  for  the  de 
fault  of  New  Jersey,  would,  in  1784,  have 
consecrated  every  part  of  that  territory  to 
freedom.  In  the  formation  of  the  na 
tional  Constitution  Virginia,  opposed  by 
a  part  of  New  England,  vainly  struggled 
to  abolish  the  slave  trade  at  once  and  for 
ever;  and  when  the  ordinance  of  1787  was 
introduced  by  Nathan  Dane  without  the 
clause  prohibiting  slavery,  it  was  through 
the  favorable  disposition  of  Virginia  and 
the  South  that  the  clause  of  Jefferson  was 
restored,  and  the  whole  Northwestern  ter 
ritory—all  the  territory  that  then  be 
longed  to  the  Nation — was  reserved  for 
the  labor  of  freemen. 

The  hope  prevailed  in  Virginia  that  the 
abolition  of  the  slave  trade  would  bring 
with  it  the  gradual  abolition  of  slavery; 
but  the  expectation  was  doomed  to  dis 
appointment.  In  supporting  incipient 
11 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
measures  for  emancipation,  Jefferson  en 
countered  difficulties  greater  than  he  could 
overcome;  and  after  vain  wrestlings,  the 
words  that  broke  from  him,  "I  tremble  for 
my  country  when  I  reflect  that  God  is 
just,  that  His  justice  can  not  sleep  for 
ever,"  were  words  of  despair.  It  was  the 
desire  of  Washington's  heart  that  Vir 
ginia  should  remove  slavery  by  a  public 
act;  and  as  the  prospects  of  a  general 
emancipation  grew  more  and  more  dim, 
he,  in  utter  hopelessness  of  the  action  of 
the  State,  did  all  that  he  could  by  be 
queathing  freedom  to  his  own  slaves. 
Good  and  true  men  had,  from  the  days  of 
1776,  suggested  the  colonizing  of  the 
negro  in  the  home  of  his  ancestors;  but 
the  idea  of  colonization  was  thought  to 
increase  the  difficulty  of  emancipation, 
and,  in  spite  of  strong  support,  while  it 
accomplished  much  good  for  Africa,  it 
12 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
proved  impracticable  as  a  remedy  at 
home.  Madison,  who  in  early  life  disliked 
slavery  so  much  that  he  wished  "to  depend 
as  little  as  possible  on  the  labor  of  slaves ;" 
Madison,  who  held  that  where  slavery  ex 
ists  "the  republican  theory  becomes  falla 
cious;"  Madison,  who  in  the  last  years  of 
his  life  would  not  consent  to  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas,  lest  his  countrymen  should 
fill  it  with  slaves;  Madison,  who  said: 
"Slavery  is  the  greatest  evil  under  which 
the  Nation  labors— a  portentous  evil— an 
evil  moral,  political,  and  economical— a 
sad  blot  on  our  free  country" — went 
mournfully  into  old  age  with  the  cheerless 
words:  "No  satisfactory  plan  has  yet  been 
devised  for  taking  out  the  stain." 

The   men   of   the    Revolution   passed 
away.    A  new  generation  sprang  up,  im 
patient  that  an  institution  to  which  they 
clung  should  be  condemned  as  inhuman, 
13 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
unwise,  and  unjust.  In  the  throes  of 
discontent  at  the  self-reproach  of  their 
fathers,  and  blinded  by  the  luster  of 
wealth  to  be  acquired  by  the  culture  of  a 
new  staple,  they  devised  the  theory  that 
slavery,  which  they  would  not  abolish,  was 
not  evil,  but  good.  They  turned  on  the 
friends  of  colonization,  and  confidently 
demanded:  "Why  take  black  men  from  a 
civilized  and  Christian  country,  where 
their  labor  is  a  source  of  immense  gain, 
and  a  power  to  control  the  markets  of  the 
world,  and  send  them  to  a  land  of  ignor 
ance,  idolatry,  and  indolence,  which  was 
the  home  of  their  forefathers,  but  not 
theirs?  Slavery  is  a  blessing.  Were  they 
not  in  their  ancestral  land  naked,  scarcely 
lifted  above  brutes,  ignorant  of  the  course 
of  the  sun,  controlled  by  nature?  And  in 
their  new  abode  have  they  not  been  taught 
to  know  the  difference  of  the  seasons,  to 
14 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
plow  and  plant  and  reap,  to  drive  oxen, 
to  tame  the  horse,  to  exchange  their  scanty 
dialect  for  the  richest  of  all  the  languages 
among  men,  and  the  stupid  adoration  of 
follies  for  the  purest  religion  ?  And  since 
slavery  is  good  for  the  blacks,  it  is  good 
for  their  masters,  bringing  opulence  and 
the  opportunity  of  educating  a  race.  The 
slavery  of  the  black  is  good  in  itself;  he 
shall  serve  the  white  man  forever."  And 
nature,  which  better  understood  the 
quality  of  fleeting  interest  and  passion, 
laughed  as  it  caught  the  echo,  "man"  and 
"forever!" 

A  regular  development  of  pretensions 
followed  the  new  declaration  with  logical 
consistency.  Under  the  old  declaration 
every  one  of  the  States  had  retained,  each 
for  itself,  the  right  of  manumitting  all 
slaves  by  an  ordinary  act  of  legislation; 
now  the  power  of  the  people  over  servitude 
15 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
through  their  legislatures  was  curtailed, 
and  the  privileged  class  was  swift  in  im 
posing  legal  and  constitutional  obstruc 
tions  on  the  people  themselves.  The  power 
of  emancipation  was  narrowed  or  taken 
away.  The  slave  might  not  be  disquieted 
by  education.  There  remained  an  uncon- 
fessed  consciousness  that  the  system  of 
bondage  was  wrong,  and  a  restless  mem 
ory  that  it  was  at  variance  with  the  true 
American  tradition;  its  safety  was  there 
fore  to  be  secured  by  political  organ 
ization.  The  generation  that  made  the 
Constitution  took  care  for  the  predomi 
nance  of  freedom  in  Congress  by  the  ordi 
nance  of  Jefferson ;  the  new  school  aspired 
to  secure  for  slavery  an  equality  of  votes  in 
the  Senate,  and,  while  it  hinted  at  an  or 
ganic  act  that  should  concede  to  the  col 
lective  South  a  veto  power  on  national 
legislation,  it  assumed  that  each  State 
16 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
separately  had  the  right  to  revise  and 
nullify  laws  of  the  United  States,  accord 
ing  to  the  discretion  of  its  judgment. 

The  new  theory  hung  as  a  bias  on  the 
foreign  relations  of  the  country;  there 
could  be  no  recognition  of  Haiti,  nor  even 
of  the  American  colony  of  Liberia;  and 
the  world  was  given  to  understand  that 
the  establishment  of  free  labor  in  Cuba 
would  be  a  reason  for  wresting  that 
island  from  Spain.  Territories  were  an 
nexed — Louisiana,  Florida,  Texas,  half 
of  Mexico ;  slavery  must  have  its  share  in 
them  all,  and  it  accepted  for  a  time  a 
dividing  line  between  the  unquestioned 
domain  of  free  labor  and  that  in  which 
involuntary  labor  was  to.  be  tolerated. 
A  few  years  passed  away,  and  the  new 
school,  strong  and  arrogant,  demanded 
and  received  an  apology  for  applying  the 
Jefferson  proviso  to  Oregon. 
17 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

The  application  of  that  proviso  was  in 
terrupted  for  three  Administrations,  but 
justice  moved  steadily  onward.  In  the 
news  that  the  men  of  California  had 
chosen  freedom,  Calhoun  heard  the  knell 
of  parting  slavery,  and  on  his  deathbed 
he  counseled  secession.  Washington  and 
Jefferson  and  Madison  had  died  despair 
ing  of  the  abolition  of  slavery;  Calhoun 
died  in  despair  at  the  growth  of  freedom. 
His  system  rushed  irresistibly  to  its  natural 
development.  The  death  struggle  for  Cali 
fornia  was  followed  by  a  short  truce ;  but 
the  new  school  of  politicians,  who  said  that 
slavery  was  not  evil,  but  good,  soon  sought 
to  recover  the  ground  they  had  lost,  and, 
confident  of  securing  Kansas,  they  de 
manded  that  the  established  line  in  the 
Territories  between  freedom  and  slavery 
should  be  blotted  out.  The  country, 
believing  in  the  strength  and  enterprise 
18 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
and  expansive  energy  of  freedom,  made 
answer,  though  reluctantly:  "Be  it  so; 
let  there  be  no  strife  between  breth 
ren;  let  freedom  and  slavery  compete 
for  the  Territories  on  equal  terms,  in  a  fair 
field,  under  an  impartial  administration;" 
and  on  this  theory,  if  on  any,  the  contest 
might  have  been  left  to  the  decision  of 
time. 

The  South  started  back  in  appallment 
from  its  victory,  for  it  knew  that  a  fair 
competition  foreboded  its  defeat.  But 
where  could  it  now  find  an  ally  to  save  it 
from  its  own  mistake?  In  a  great  repub 
lic,  as  was  observed  more  than  two  thou 
sand  years  ago,  any  attempt  to  overturn 
the  state  owes  its  strength  to  aid  from 
some  branch  of  the  government.  The 
Chief  Justice  of  the  United  States,  with 
out  any  necessity  or  occasion,  volunteered 
to  come  to  the  rescue  of  the  theory  of 
19 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
slavery;  and  from  his  court  there  lay  no 
appeal  but  to  the  bar  of  humanity  and 
history.  Against  the  Constitution,  against 
the  memory  of  the  Nation,  against  a 
previous  decision,  against  a  series  of  enact 
ments,  he  decided  that  the  slave  is  prop 
erty;  that  slave  property  is  entitled  to  no 
less  protection  than  any  other  property; 
that  the  Constitution  upholds  it  in  every 
Territory  against  any  act  of  a  local  legis 
lature,  and  even  against  Congress  itself; 
or,  as  the  President  for  that  term  tersely 
promulgated  the  saying,  "Kansas  is  as 
much  a  slave  State  as  South  Carolina  or 
Georgia ;  slavery,  by  virtue  of  the  Consti 
tution,  exists  in  every  Territory."  The 
municipal  character  of  slavery  being  thus 
taken  away,  and  slave  property  decreed  to 
be  "sacred,"  the  authority  of  the  courts 
was  invoked  to  introduce  it  by  the  comity 
of  law  into  States  where  slavery  had  been 
20 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

abolished,  and  in  one  of  the  courts  of  the 
United  States  a  judge  pronounced  the 
African  slave  trade  legitimate,  and  nu 
merous  and  powerful  advocates  demanded 
its  restoration. 

Moreover,  the  Chief  Justice,  in  his  elab 
orate  opinion,  announced  what  had  never 
been  heard  from  any  magistrate  of  Greece 
or  Rome ;  what  was  unknown  to  civil  law, 
and  canon  law,  and  feudal  law,  and  com 
mon  law,  and  constitutional  law;  unknown 
to  Jay,  to  Rutledge,  Ellsworth,  and  Mar 
shall — that  there  are  "slave  races."  The 
spirit  of  evil  is  intensely  logical.  Having 
the  authority  of  this  decision,  five  States 
swiftly  followed  the  earlier  example  of  a 
sixth,  and  opened  the  way  for  reducing  the 
free  negro  to  bondage ;  the  migrating  free 
negro  became  a  slave  if  he  but  entered 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  a  seventh;  and 
an  eighth,  from  its  extent  and  soil  and 

21 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
mineral  resources  destined  to  incalculable 
greatness,  closed  its  eyes  on  its  coming 
prosperity,  and  enacted,  as  by  Taney's 
dictum  it  had  the  right  to  do,  that  every 
free  black  man  who  would  live  within  its 
limits  must  accept  the  condition  of  slavery 
for  himself  and  his  posterity. 

Only  one  step  more  remained  to  be 
taken.  Jefferson  and  the  leading  states 
men  of  his  day  held  fast  to  the  idea 
that  the  enslavement  of  the  African  was 
socially,  morally,  and  politically  wrong. 
The  new  school  was  founded  exactly  upon 
the  opposite  idea ;  and  they  resolved,  first, 
to  distract  the  Democratic  party,  for 
which  the  Supreme  Court  had  now  fur 
nished  the  means,  and  then  to  establish  a 
new  government,  with  negro  slavery  for 
its  corner  stone,  as  socially,  morally,  and 
politically  right. 

As  the  Presidential  election  drew  on, 
22 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
one  of  the  great  traditional  parties  did  not 
make  its  appearance;  the  other  reeled  as 
it  sought  to  preserve  its  old  position,  and 
the  candidate  who  most  nearly  repre 
sented  its  best  opinion,  driven  by  patriotic 
zeal,  roamed  the  country  from  end  to  end 
to  speak  for  union,  eager,  at  least,  to  con 
front  its  enemies,  yet  not  having  hope  that 
it  would  find  its  deliverance  through 
him.  The  storm  rose  to  a  whirlwind ;  who 
should  allay  its  wrath?  The  most  expe 
rienced  statesman  of  the  country  had 
failed;  there  was  no  hope  from  those  who 
were  great  after  the  flesh:  could  relief 
come  from  one  whose  wisdom  was  like  the 
wisdom  of  little  children? 

The  choice  of  America  fell  on  a  man 
born  west  of  the  Alleghanies,  in  the  cabin 
of  poor  people  of  Hardin  County,  Ken 
tucky — Abraham  Lincoln. 

His  mother  could  read  but  not  write; 
23 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
his  father  could  do  neither ;  but  his  parents 
sent  him,  with  an  old  spelling  book,  to 
school,  and  he  learned  in  his  childhood  to 
do  both. 

When  eight  years  old  he  floated  down 
the  Ohio  with  his  father  on  a  raft,  which 
bore  the  family  and  all  their  .possessions 
to  the  shore  of  Indiana;  and,  child  as  he 
was,  he  gave  help  as  they  toiled  through 
dense  forests  to  the  interior  of  Spencer 
County.  There,  in  the  land  of  free  labor, 
he  grew  up  in  a  log  cabin,  with  the  solemn 
solitude  for  his  teacher  in  his  meditative 
hours.  Of  Asiatic  literature  he  knew 
only  the  Bible;  of  Greek,  Latin,  and 
mediaeval,  no  more  than  the  translation  of 
JEsop's  Fables;  of  English,  John  Bun- 
yan's  Pilgrim's  Progress.  The  traditions  of 
George  Fox  and  William  Penn  passed  to 
him  dimly  along  the  lines  of  two  centuries 
through  his  ancestors,  who  were  Quakers. 
24 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Otherwise  his  education  was  altogether 
American.  The  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence  was  his  compendium  of  political 
wisdom,  the  Life  of  Washington  his  con 
stant  study,  and  something  of  Jefferson 
and  Madison  reached  him  through  Henry 
Clay,  whom  he  honored  from  boyhood. 
For  the  rest,  from  day  to  day,  he  lived  the 
life  of  the  American  people,  walked  in  its 
light,  reasoned  with  its  reason,  thought 
with  its  power  of  thought,  felt  the  beat 
ings  of  its  mighty  heart,  and  so  was  in 
every  way  a  child  of  nature,  a  child  of  the 
West,  a  child  of  America. 

At  nineteen,  feeling  impulses  of  ambi 
tion  to  get  on  in  the  world,  he  engaged 
himself  to  go  down  the  Mississippi  in  a 
flatboat,  receiving  ten  dollars  a  month  for 
his  wages,  and  afterwards  he  made  the 
trip  once  more.  At  twenty-one  he  drove 
his  father's  cattle,  as  the  family  migrated 
25 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
to  Illinois,  and  split  rails  to  fence  in  the  new 
homestead  in  the  wild.  At  twenty-three 
he  was  a  captain  of  volunteers  in  the  Black 
Hawk  war.  He  kept  a  store;  he  learned 
something  of  surveying;  but  of  English 
literature  he  added  to  Bunyan  nothing 
but  Shakespeare's  plays.  At  twenty-five 
he  was  elected  to  the  legislature  of  Illi 
nois,  where  he  served  eight  years.  At 
twenty-seven  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar. 
In  1837  he  chose  his  home  at  Springfield, 
the  beautiful  center  of  the  richest  land  in 
the  State.  In  1847  he  was  a  member  of 
the  national  Congress,  where  he  voted 
about  forty  times  in  favor  of  the  principle 
of  the  Jefferson  proviso.  In  1849  he 
sought,  eagerly  but  unsuccessfully,  the 
place  of  Commissioner  of  the  Land  Office, 
and  he  refused  an  appointment  that  would 
have  transferred  his  residence  to  Oregon. 
In  1854  he  gave  his  influence  to  elect  from 
26 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
Illinois  to  the  American  Senate  a  Demo 
crat  who  would  certainly  do  justice  to 
Kansas.  In  1858,  as  the  rival  of  Douglas, 
he  went  before  the  people  of  the  mighty 
Prairie  State,  saying:  "This  Union  can 
not  permanently  endure  half  slave  and 
half  free ;  the  Union  will  not  be  dissolved, 
but  the  house  will  cease  to  be  divided;" 
and  now,  in  1861,  with  no  experience 
whatever  as  an  executive  officer,  while 
States  were  madly  flying  from  their  orbit, 
and  wise  men  knew  not  where  to  find 
counsel,  this  descendant  of  Quakers,  this 
pupil  of  Bunyan,  this  offspring  of  the 
great  West,  was  elected  President  of 
America. 

He  measured  the  difficulty  of  the  duty 
that  devolved  upon  him,  and  was  resolved 
to  fulfill  it.  As  on  the  eleventh  of  Feb 
ruary,  1861,  he  left  Springfield,  which  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century  had  been  his  happy 

27 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
home,  to  the  crowd  of  his  friends  and 
neighbors,  whom  he  was  never  more  to 
meet,  he  spoke  a  solemn  farewell:  "I 
know  not  how  soon  I  shall  see  you  again. 
A  duty  has  devolved  upon  me,  greater 
than  that  which  has  devolved  upon  any 
other  man  since  Washington.  He  never 
would  have  succeeded  except  for  the  aid 
of  Divine  Providence,  upon  which  he  at 
all  times  relied.  On  the  same  Almighty 
Being  I  place  my  reliance.  Pray  that  I 
may  receive  that  Divine  assistance,  with 
out  which  I  can  not  succeed,  but  with 
which  success  is  certain."  To  the  men  of 
Indiana  he  said:  "I  am  but  an  accidental, 
temporary  instrument;  it  is  your  business 
to  rise  up  and  preserve  the  Union  and 
liberty."  At  the  capital  of  Ohio  he  said: 
"Without  a  name,  without  a  reason  why  I 
should  have  a  name,  there  has  fallen  upon 
me  a  task  such  as  did  not  rest  even  upon 
28 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
the  Father  of  his  Country."  At  various 
places  in  New  York,  especially  at  Al 
bany,  before  the  legislature,  which  ten 
dered  him  the  united  support  of  the  great 
Empire  State,  he  said:  "While  I  hold  my 
self  the  humblest  of  all  the  individuals 
who  have  ever  been  elevated  to  the  Presi 
dency,  I  have  a  more  difficult  task  to  per 
form  than  any  of  them.  I  bring  a  true 
heart  to  the  work.  I  must  rely  upon  the 
people  of  the  whole  country  for  support; 
and  with  their  sustaining  aid,  even  I, 
humble  as  I  am,  can  not  fail  to  carry  the 
ship  of  state  safely  through  the  storm." 
To  the  assembly  of  New  Jersey,  at  Tren 
ton,  he  explained:  "I  shall  take  the  ground 
I  deem  most  just  to  the  North,  the  East, 
the  West,  the  South,  and  the  whole  coun 
try,  in  good  temper,  certainly  with  no 
malice  to  any  section.  I  am  devoted  to 
peace,  but  it  may  be  necessary  to  put  the 
29 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
foot  down  firmly."  In  the  old  Indepen 
dence  Hall  of  Philadelphia  he  said:  "I 
have  never  had  a  feeling  politically  that 
did  not  spring  from  the  sentiments  em 
bodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Indepen 
dence,  which  gave  liberty,  not  alone  to 
the  people  of  this  country,  but  to  the 
world  in  all  future  time.  If  the  country 
can  not  be  saved  without  giving  up  that 
principle,  I  would  rather  be  assassinated 
on  the  spot  than  surrender  it.  I  have  said 
nothing  but  what  I  am  willing  to  live  and 
die  by." 

Traveling  in  the  dead  of  night  to  es 
cape  assassination,  Lincoln  arrived  at 
Washington  nine  days  before  his  inaugu 
ration.  The  outgoing  President,  at  the 
opening  of  the  session  of  Congress,  had 
still  kept  as  the  majority  of  his  advisers 
men  engaged  in  treason;  had  declared 
that  in  case  of  even  an  "imaginary"  ap- 
30 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

prehension  of  danger  from  notions  of 
freedom  among  the  slaves,  "disunion 
would  become  inevitable."  Lincoln  and 
others  had  questioned  the  opinion  of 
Taney ;  such  impugning  he  ascribed  to  the 
"factious  temper  of  the  times."  The 
favorite  doctrine  of  the  majority  of  the 
Democratic  party  on  the  power  of  a  Ter 
ritorial  legislature  over  slavery  he  con 
demned  as  an  attack  on  "the  sacred  rights 
of  property."  The  State  legislatures,  he 
insisted,  must  repeal  what  he  called  "their 
unconstitutional  and  obnoxious  enact 
ments,"  and  which,  if  such,  were  "null  and 
void,"  or  "it  would  be  impossible  for  any 
human  power  to  save  the  Union."  Nay, 
if  these  unimportant  acts  were  not  re 
pealed,  "the  injured  States  would  be  jus 
tified  in  revolutionary  resistance  to  the 
Government  of  the  Union."  He  main 
tained  that  no  State  might  secede  at  its 
31 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

sovereign  will  and  pleasure;  that  the 
Union  was  meant  for  perpetuity,  and  that 
Congress  might  attempt  to  preserve  it,  but 
only  by  conciliation;  that  "the  sword  was 
not  placed  in  their  hands  to  preserve  it  by 
force ;"  that  "the  last  desperate  remedy  of 
a  despairing  people"  would  be  "an  ex 
planatory  amendment  recognizing  the 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States."  The  American  Union 
he  called  "a  confederacy"  of  States,  and 
he  thought  it  a  duty  to  make  the  appeal 
for  the  amendment  "before  any  of  these 
States  should  separate  themselves  from 
the  Union."  The  views  of  the  lieutenant- 
general,  containing  some  patriotic  advice, 
"conceded  the  right  of  secession,"  pro 
nounced  a  quadruple  rupture  of  the 
Union  "a  smaller  evil  than  the  reuniting 
of  the  fragments  by  the  sword,"  and  "es 
chewed  the  idea  of  invading  a  seceded 
32 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

State."  After  changes  in  the  Cabinet,  the 
President  informed  Congress  that  "mat 
ters  were  still  worse;"  that  "the  South  suf 
fered  serious  grievances,"  which  should 
be  redressed  "in  peace."  The  day  after 
this  message  the  flag  of  the  Union  was 
fired  upon  from  Fort  Morris,  and  the 
insult  was  not  revenged  or  noticed.  Sen 
ators  in  Congress  telegraphed  to  their  con 
stituents  to  seize  the  national  forts,  and 
they  were  not  arrested.  The  finances  of 
the  country  were  grievously  embarrassed. 
Its  little  Army  was  not  within  reach;  the 
part  of  it  in  Texas,  with  all  its  stores,  was 
made  over  by  its  commander  to  rebels. 
One  State  after  another  voted  in  conven 
tion  to  secede.  A  peace  congress,  so 
called,  met  at  the  request  of  Virginia  to 
concert  the  terms  of  a  capitulation  which 
should  secure  permission  for  the  continu 
ance  of  the  Union.  Congress,  in  both 
33 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
branches,  sought  to  devise  conciliatory  ex 
pedients;  the  Territories  of  the  country 
were  organized  in  a  manner  not  to  conflict 
with  any  pretensions  of  the  South,  or  any 
decision  of  the  Supreme  Court;  and, 
nevertheless,  the  representatives  of  the  re 
bellion  formed  at  Montgomery  a  provi 
sional  government,  and  pursued  their 
relentless  purpose  with  such  success  that 
the  lieutenant-general  feared  the  city  of 
Washington  might  find  itself  "included 
in  a  foreign  country,"  and  proposed, 
among  the  options  for  the  consideration 
of  Lincoln,  to  bid  the  wayward  States 
"depart  in  peace."  The  great  Republic 
appeared  to  have  its  emblem  in  the  vast 
unfinished  Capitol,  at  that  moment  sur 
rounded  by  masses  of  stone  and  prostrate 
columns  never  yet  lifted  into  their  places, 
seemingly  the  monument  of  high  but  de 
lusive  aspirations,  the  confused  wreck  of 
34 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
inchoate  magnificence,   sadder  than  any 
ruin  of  Egyptian  Thebes  or  Athens. 

The  fourth  of  March  came.  With  in 
stinctive  wisdom  the  new  President,  speak 
ing  to  the  people  on  taking  the  oath 
of  office,  put  aside  every  question  that 
divided  the  country,  and  gained  a  right 
to  universal  support  by  planting  himself 
on  the  single  idea  of  union.  The  Union 
he  declared  to  be  unbroken  and  perpetual ; 
and  he  announced  his  determination  to 
fulfill  "the  simple  duty  of  taking  care  that 
the  laws  be  faithfully  executed  in  all  the 
States."  Seven  days  later  the  conven 
tion  of  Confederate  States  unanimously 
adopted  a  constitution  of  their  own;  and 
the  new  government  was  authoritatively 
announced  to  be  founded  on  the  idea  that 
the  negro  race  is  a  slave  race ;  that  slavery 
is  its  natural  and  normal  condition.  The 
issue  was  made  up,  whether  the  great  Re- 
35 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
public  was  to  maintain  its  providential 
place  in  the  history  of  mankind,  or  a  re 
bellion  founded  on  negro  slavery  gain  a 
recognition  of  its  principle  throughout  the 
civilized  world.  To  the  disaffected  Lin 
coln  had  said:  "You  can  have  no  conflict 
without  being  yourselves  the  aggressors. 
To  fire  the  passions  of  the  Southern  por 
tion  of  the  people,  the  Confederate  gov 
ernment  chose  to  become  aggressors,  and, 
on  the  morning  of  the  twelfth  of  April, 
began  the  bombardment  of  Fort  Sumter, 
and  compelled  its  evacuation. 

It  is  the  glory  of  Lincoln  that  he  had 
perfect  faith  in  the  perpetuity  of  the 
Union.  Supported  in  advance  by  Doug 
las,  who  spoke  as  with  the  voice  of  a  mil 
lion,  he  instantly  called  a  meeting  of 
Congress,  and  summoned  the  people  to 
come  up  and  repossess  the  forts,  places, 
and  property  which  had  been  seized  from 
36 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

the  Union.  The  men  of  the  North  were 
trained  in  schools ;  industrious  and  frugal ; 
many  of  them  delicately  bred ;  their  minds 
teeming  with  ideas  and  fertile  in  plans  of 
enterprise ;  given  to  the  culture  of  the  arts ; 
eager  in  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  yet  employ 
ing  wealth  less  for  ostentation  than  for 
developing  the  resources  of  their  country ; 
seeking  happiness  in  the  calm  of  domestic 
life,  and  such  lovers  of  peace  that  for  gene 
rations  they  had  been  reputed  unwarlike. 
Now,  at  the  cry  of  their  country  in  its 
distress,  they  rose  up  with  unappeasable 
patriotism;  not  hirelings — the  purest  and 
of  the  best  blood  in  the  land.  Sons  of  a 
pious  ancestry,  with  a  clear  perception  of 
duty,  unclouded  faith,  and  fixed  resolve  to 
succeed,  they  thronged  around  the  Presi 
dent  to  support  the  wronged,  the  beautiful 
flag  of  the  Nation.  The  halls  of  theolog 
ical  seminaries  sent  forth  their  young  men, 

37 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
whose  lips  were  touched  with  eloquence, 
whose  hearts  kindled  with  devotion,  to 
serve  in  the  ranks,  and  make  their  way  to 
command  only  as  they  learned  the  art  of 
war.  Striplings  in  the  colleges,  as  well 
the  most  gentle  and  the  most  studious, 
those  of  sweetest  temper  and  loveliest 
character  and  brightest  genius,  passed 
from  their  classes  to  the  camp.  The  lum 
bermen  from  the  forests,  the  mechanics 
from  their  benches,  where  they  had  been 
trained  by  the  exercise  of  political  rights 
to  share  the  life  and  hope  of  the  Republic, 
to  feel  their  responsibility  to  their  fore 
fathers,  their  posterity,  and  mankind, 
went  to  the  front  resolved  that  their  dig 
nity  as  a  constituent  part  of  this  Republic 
should  not  be  impaired.  Farmers  and  sons 
of  farmers  left  the  land  but  half  plowed, 
the  grain  but  half  planted,  and,  taking  up 
the  musket,  learned  to  face  without  fear 
38 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
the  presence  of  peril  and  the  coming  of 
death  in  the  shocks  of  war,  while  their 
hearts  were  still  attracted  to  their  herds 
and  fields  and  all  the  tender  affections  of 
home.  Whatever  there  was  of  truth  and 
faith  and  public  love  in  the  common  heart 
broke  out  with  one  expression.  The 
mighty  winds  blew  from  every  quarter  to 
fan  the  flame  of  the  sacred  and  unquench 
able  fire. 

For  a  time  the  war  was  thought  to  be 
confined  to  our  own  domestic  affairs,  but 
it  was  soon  seen  that  it  involved  the  des 
tinies  of  mankind;  its  principles  and 
causes  shook  the  politics  of  Europe  to  the 
center,  and  from  Lisbon  to  Pekin  divided 
the  governments  of  the  world. 

There  was  a  Kingdom  whose  people 
had  in  an  eminent  degree  attained  to  free 
dom  of  industry  and  the  security  of  person 
and  property.     Its  middle  class  rose  to 
39 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

greatness.  Out  of  that  class  sprung  the 
noblest  poets  and  philosophers,  whose 
words  built  up  the  intellect  of  its  people; 
skillful  navigators,  to  find  out  for  its 
merchants  the  many  paths  of  the  oceans; 
discoverers  in  natural  science,  whose  in 
ventions  guided  its  industry  to  wealth,  till 
it  equaled  any  nation  of  the  world  in  let 
ters,  and  excelled  all  in  trade  and  com 
merce.  But  its  Government  was  become  a 
government  of  land,  and  not  of  men ;  every 
blade  of  grass  was  represented,  but  only  a 
small  minority  of  the  people.  In  the  tran 
sition  from  the  feudal  forms,  the  heads  of 
the  social  organization  freed  themselves 
from  the  military  services  which  were  the 
conditions  of  their  tenure,  and,  throwing 
the  burden  on  the  industrial  classes,  kept 
all  the  soil  to  themselves.  Vast  estates 
that  had  been  managed  by  monasteries  as 
endowments  for  religion  and  charity  were 
40 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
impropriated  to  swell  the  wealth  of  cour* 
tiers  and  favorites;  and  the  commons 
where  the  poor  man  once  had  his  right  of 
pasture  were  taken  away,  and,  under  forms 
of  law,  inclosed  distributively  within  the 
domains  of  the  adjacent  landholders.  Al 
though  no  law  forbade  any  inhabitant 
from  purchasing  land,  the  costliness  of  the 
transfer  constituted  a  prohibition;  so  that 
it  was  the  rule  of  the  country  that  the  plow 
should  not  be  in  the  hands  of  its  owner. 
The  church  was  rested  on  a  contradiction ; 
claiming  to  be  an  embodiment  of  absolute 
truth,  it  was  a  creature  of  the  statute 
book. 

The  progress  of  time  increased  the  ter 
rible  contrast  between  wealth  and  poverty. 
In  their  years  of  strength  the  laboring 
people,  cut  off  from  all  share  in  governing 
the  state,  derived  a  scant  support  from  the 
severest  toil  and  had  no  hope  for  old  age 
41 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
but  in  public  charity  or  death.  A  grasp 
ing  ambition  had  dotted  the  world  with 
military  posts,  kept  watch  over  our  bor 
ders  on  the  Northeast,  at  the  Bermudas, 
in  the  West  Indies;  appropriated  the 
gates  of  the  Pacific,  of  the  Southern,  and 
of  the  Indian  Ocean;  hovered  on  our 
Northwest  at  Vancouver,  held  the  whole 
of  the  newest  continent  and  the  entrances 
to  the  old  Mediterranean  and  Red  Sea, 
and  garrisoned  forts  all  the  way  from 
Madras  to  China.  That  aristocracy  had 
gazed  with  terror  on  the  growth  of  a  com 
monwealth  where  freeholders  existed  by 
the  million  and  religion  was  not  in  bond 
age  to  the  state;  and  now  they  could  not 
repress  their  joy  at  its  perils.  They  had 
not  one  word  of  sympathy  for  the  kind- 
hearted  poor  man's  son  whom  America 
had  chosen  for  her  chief;  they  jeered  at 
his  large  hands  and  long  feet  and  un- 
42 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

gainly  stature;  and  the  British  secretary 
of  state  for  foreign  affairs  made  haste  to 
send  word  through  the  palaces  of  Europe 
that  the  great  Republic  was  in  its  agony; 
that  the  Republic  was  no  more;  that  a 
headstone  was  all  that  remained  due  by 
the  law  of  nations  to  "the  late  Union." 
But  it  is  written :  "Let  the  dead  bury  their 
dead ;"  they  may  not  bury  the  living.  Let 
the  dead  bury  their  dead;  let  a  bill  of  re 
form  remove  the  worn-out  government  of 
a  class,  and  infuse  new  life  into  the  British 
constitution  by  confiding  rightful  power 
to  the  people. 

But  while  the  vitality  of  America  is  in 
destructible,  the  British  Government  hur 
ried  to  do  what  never  before  had  been 
done  by  Christian  powers;  what  was  in 
direct  conflict  with  its  own  exposition 
of  public  law  in  the  time  of  our  struggle 
for  independence.  Though  the  insurgent 
43 


ABRAHAM  I INCOLN 
States  had  not  a  ship  in  an  open  harbor, 
it  invested  them  with  all  the  rights  of  a 
belligerent,  even  on  the  ocean;  and  this, 
too,  when  the  rebellion  was  not  only 
directed  against  the  gentlest  and  most 
beneficent  Government  on  earth,  without 
a  shadow  of  justifiable  cause,  but  when  the 
rebellion  was  directed  against  human 
nature  itself  for  the  perpetual  enslave 
ment  of  a  race.  And  the  effect  of  this  rec 
ognition  was  that  acts  in  themselves 
piratical  found  shelter  in  British  courts 
of  law.  The  resources  of  British  capi 
talists,  their  workshops,  their  armories, 
their  private  arsenals,  their  shipyards, 
were  in  league  with  the  insurgents,  and 
every  British  harbor  in  the  wide  world  be 
came  a  safe  port  for  British  ships,  manned 
by  British  sailors,  and  armed  with  British 
guns,  to  prey  on  our  peaceful  commerce; 
even  on  our  ships  coming  from  British 
44 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
ports,  freighted  with  British  products,  or 
that  had  carried  gifts  of  grain  to  the  Eng 
lish  poor.  The  prime  minister,  in  the 
House  of  Commons,  sustained  by  cheers, 
scoffed  at  the  thought  that  their  laws 
could  be  amended  at  our  request  so  as  to 
preserve  real  neutrality;  and  to  remon 
strances  now  owned  to  have  been  just 
by  their  secretary  of  state  answered  that 
they  could  not  change  their  laws  ad  in- 
finitum. 

The  people  of  America  then  wished,  as 
they  always  have  wished,  as  they  still 
wish,  friendly  relations  with  England,  this 
country  has  always  yearned  for  good  rela 
tions  with  England.  Thrice  only  in  all 
its  history  has  that  yearning  been  fairly 
met:  in  the  days  of  Hampden  and  Crom 
well,  again  in  the  first  ministry  of  the 
elder  Pitt,  and  once  again  in  the  ministry 
of  Shelburne.  Not  that  there  have  not  at 
45 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

all  times  been  just  men  among  the  peers 
of  Britain — like  Halifax  in  the  days  of 
James  the  Second,  or  a  Granville,  an 
Argyll,  or  a  Houghton  in  ours;  and  we 
can  not  be  indifferent  to  a  country  that 
produces  statesmen  like  Cobden  and 
Bright;  but  the  best  bower  anchor  of 
peace  was  the  working  class  of  England, 
who  suffered  most  from  our  civil  war,  but 
who,  while  they  broke  their  diminished 
bread  in  sorrow,  always  encouraged  us  to 
persevere. 

The  act  of  recognizing  the  rebel  bellig 
erents  was  concerted  with  France- 
France,  so  beloved  in  America,  on  which 
she  had  conferred  the  greatest  benefits 
that  one  people  ever  conferred  on  another ; 
France,  which  stands  foremost  on  the  con 
tinent  of  Europe  for  the  solidity  of  her 
culture,  as  well  as  for  the  bravery  and  gen 
erous  impulses  of  her  sons ;  France,  which 
46 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
for  centuries  had  been  moving  steadily  in 
her  own  way  toward  intellectual  and 
political  freedom.  The  policy  regarding 
further  colonization  of  America  by  Euro 
pean  powers,  known  commonly  as  the  doc 
trine  of  Monroe,  had  its  origin  in  France ; 
and,  if  it  takes  any  man's  name,  should 
bear  the  name  of  Turgot.  It  was  adopted 
by  Louis  the  Sixteenth,  in  the  cabinet  of 
which  Vergennes  was  the  most  important 
member.  It  is  emphatically  the  policy  of 
France,  to  which,  with  transient  devia 
tions,  the  Bourbons,  the  first  Napoleon, 
the  house  of  Orleans  have  adhered. 

Lincoln  was  perpetually  harassed  by 
rumors  that  the  Emperor  Napoleon  the 
Third  desired  formally  to  recognize  the 
States  in  rebellion  as  an  independent 
Power,  and  that  England  held  him  back 
by  her  reluctance,  or  France  by  her  tradi 
tions  of  freedom,  or  he  himself  by  his  own 

47 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
better  judgment  and  clear  perception  of 
events.  But  the  Republic  of  Mexico,  on 
our  borders,  was,  like  ourselves,  distracted 
by  a  rebellion,  and  from  a  similar  cause. 
The  monarchy  of  England  had  fastened 
upon  us  slavery  which  did  not  disappear 
with  independence;  in  like  manner,  the 
ecclesiastical  policy  established  by  the 
Spanish  Council  of  the  Indies,  in  the  days 
of  Charles  the  Fifth  and  Philip  the 
Second,  retained  its  vigor  in  the  Mexican 
Republic.  The  fifty  years  of  civil  war 
under  which  she  had  languished  was  due 
to  the  bigoted  system  which  was  the 
legacy  of  monarchy,  just  as  here  the  inher 
itance  of  slavery  kept  alive  political  strife, 
and  culminated  in  civil  war.  As  with  us 
there  could  be  no  quiet  but  through  the 
end  of  slavery,  so  in  Mexico  there  could 
be  no  prosperity  until  the  crushing  tyr 
anny  of  intolerance  should  cease.  The 
48 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
party  of  slavery  in  the  United  States  sent 
their  emissaries  to  Europe,  to  solicit  aid ; 
and  so  did  the  party'  of  the  church  in 
Mexico,  as  organized  by  the  old  Spanish 
,  Council  of  the  Indies,  but  with  a  different 
result.  Just  as  the  Republican  party  had 
made  an  end  of  the  rebellion,  and  was 
establishing  the  best  government  ever 
known  in  that  region,  and  giving  promise 
to  the  Nation  of  order,  peace,  and  pros 
perity,  word  was  brought  us,  in  the 
moment  of  our  deepest  affliction,  that  the 
French  Emperor,  moved  by  a  desire  to 
erect  in  North  America  a  buttress  for  im 
perialism,  would  transform  the  Republic 
of  Mexico  into  a  secundo-geniture  for  the 
house  of  Hapsburg.  America  might  com 
plain;  she  could  not  then  interpose,  and 
delay  seemed  justifiable.  It  was  seen  that 
Mexico  could  not,  with  all  its  wealth  of 
land,  compete  in  cereal  products  with  our 
49 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
Northwest,  nor  in  tropical  products  with 
Cuba;  nor  could  it,  under  a  disputed 
dynasty,  attract  capital,  or  create  public 
works,  or  develop  mines,  or  borrow 
money;  so  that  the  imperial  system  of 
Mexico,  which  was  forced  at  once  to  recog 
nize  the  wisdom  of  the  policy  of  the  Re 
public  by  adopting  it,  could  prove  only 
an  unremunerating  drain  on  the  French 
treasury  for  the  support  of  an  Austrian 
adventurer. 

Meantime  a  new  series  of  momentous 
questions  grows  up,  and  forces  itself  on 
the  consideration  of  the  thoughtful.  Re 
publicanism  has  learned  how  to  introduce 
into  its  constitution  every  element  of  order, 
as  well  as  every  element  of  freedom;  but 
thus  far  the  continuity  of  its  government 
has  seemed  to  depend  on  the  continuity 
of  elections.  It  is  now  to  be  considered 
how  perpetuity  is  to  be  secured  against 
50 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
foreign  occupation.  The  successor  of 
Charles  the  First  of  England  dated  his 
reign  from  the  death  of  his  father;  the 
Bourbons,  coming  back  after  a  long  series 
of  revolutions,  claimed  that  the  Louis  who 
became  King  was  the  eighteenth  of  that 
name.  The  Emperor  of  the  French,  dis 
daining  a  title  from  election  alone,  called 
himself  Napoleon  the  Third.  Shall  a  re 
public  have  less  power  of  continuance  when 
invading  armies  prevent  a  peaceful  resort 
to  the  ballot  box?  What  force  shall  it 
attach  to  intervening  legislation?  What 
validity  to  debts  contracted  for  its  over 
throw?  These  momentous  questions 
are,  by  the  invasion  of  Mexico,  thrown 
up  for  solution.  A  free  state  once  truly 
constituted  should  be  as  undying  as  its 
people;  the  Republic  of  Mexico  must  rise 
again. 

It  was  the  condition  of  affairs  in  Mexico 
51 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
that  involved  the  Pope  of  Rome  in  our 
difficulties  so  far  that  he  alone  among 
sovereigns  recognized  the  chief  of  the  Con 
federate  States  as  a  President,  and  his 
supporters  as  a  people;  and  in  letters  to 
two  great  prelates  of  the  Catholic  Church 
in  the  United  States  gave  counsels  for 
peace  at  a  time  when  peace  meant  the  vic 
tory  of  secession.  Yet  events  move  as  they 
are  ordered.  The  blessing  of  the  Pope  at 
Rome  on  the  head  of  Duke  Maximilian 
could  not  revive  in  the  nineteenth  century 
the  ecclesiastical  policy  of  the  sixteenth; 
and  the  result  is  only  a  new  proof  that 
there  can  he  no  prosperity  in  the  state 
without  religious  freedom. 

When  it  came  home  to  the  consciousness 
of  the  Americans  that  the  war  which  they 
were  waging  was  a  war  for  the  liberty  of 
all  the  nations  of  the  world,  for  freedom 
itself,  they  thanked  God  for  giving  them 
52 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
strength  to  endure  the  severity  of  the  trial 
to  which  He  put  their  sincerity,  and 
nerved  themselves  for  their  duty  with  an 
inexorable  will.  The  President  was  led 
along  by  the  greatness  of  their  self-sacri 
ficing  example;  and  as  a  child,  in  a  dark 
night  on  a  rugged  way,  catches  hold  of  the 
hand  of  its  father  for  guidance  and  sup 
port,  he  clung  fast  to  the  hand  of  the 
people,  and  moved  calmly  through  the 
gloom.  While  the  statesmanship  of 
Europe  was  mocking  at  the  hopeless 
vanity  of  their  efforts,  they  put  forth  such 
miracles  of  energy  as  the  history  of  the 
world  had  never  known.  The  contribu 
tions  to  the  popular  loans  amounted  in 
four  years  to  twenty-seven  and  a  half 
hundred  millions  of  dollars;  the  revenue 
of  the  country  from  taxation  was  increased 
sevenfold.  The  Navy  of  the  United 
States,  drawing  into  the  public  service  the 
53 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
willing  militia  of  the  seas,  doubled  its  ton 
nage  in  eight  months,  and  established  an 
actual  blockade  from  Cape  Hatteras  to 
the  Rio  Grande ;  in  the  course  of  the  war 
it  was  increased  fivefold  in  men  and  in 
tonnage,  while  the  inventive  genius  of 
the  country  devised  more  effective  kinds 
of  ordnance  and  new  forms  of  naval  archi 
tecture  in  wood  and  iron.  There  went 
into  the  field  for  various  terms  of  enlist 
ment  about  two  million  men;  and  in 
March,  1865,  the  men  in  the  Army  ex 
ceeded  a  million;  that  is  to  say,  nine  of 
every  twenty  able-bodied  men  in  the  free 
Territories  and  States  took  some  part  in 
the  war;  and  at  one  time  every  fifth  of 
their  able-bodied  men  was  in  service.  In 
one  single  month  one  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  thousand  men  were  recruited  into  ser 
vice.  Once,  within  four  weeks,  Ohio 
organized  and  placed  in  the  field  forty- 
54 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
two  regiments  of  infantry— nearly  thirty- 
six  thousand  men;  and  Ohio  was  like 
other  States  in  the  East  and  in  the  West. 
The  well-mounted  cavalry  numbered 
eighty-four  thousand ;  of  horses  and  mules 
there  were  bought,  from  first  to  last,  two- 
thirds  of  a  million.  In  the  movements  of 
troops  science  came  in  aid  of  patriotism, 
so  that,  to  choose  a  single  instance  out  of 
many,  an  army  twenty-three  thousand 
strong,  with  its  artillery,  trains,  baggage, 
and  animals,  were  moved  by  rail  from  the 
Potomac  to  the  Tennessee,  twelve  hundred 
miles,  in  seven  days.  On  the  long  marches 
wonders  of  military  construction  bridged 
the  rivers,  and  wherever  an  army  halted 
ample  supplies  awaited  them  at  their  ever 
changing  base.  The  vile  thought  that  life 
is  the  greatest  of  blessings  did  not  rise  up. 
In  six  hundred  and  twenty-five  battles 
and  severe  skirmishes  blood  flowed  like 

55 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
water.  It  streamed  over  the  grassy 
plains;  it  stained  the  rocks;  the  under 
growth  of  the  forests  was  red  with  it;  and 
the  armies  marched  on  with  majestic  cour 
age  from  one  conflict  to  another,  knowing 
that  they  were  fighting  for  God  and  lib 
erty.  The  organization  of  the  medical  de 
partment  met  its  infinitely  multiplied 
duties  with  exactness  and  dispatch.  At 
the  news  of  a  battle  the  best  surgeons  of 
our  cities  hastened  to  the  field  to  offer  the 
untiring  aid  of  the  greatest  experience  and 
skill.  The  gentlest  and  most  refined  of 
women  left  homes  of  luxury  and  ease  to 
build  hospital  tents  near  the  armies  and 
serve  as  nurses  to  the  sick  and  dying.  Be 
sides  the  large  supply  of  religious  teachers 
by  the  public,  the  congregations  spared 
to  their  brothers  in  the  field  the  ablest  min 
isters.  The  Christian  Commission,  which 
expended  more  than  six  and  a  quarter 
56 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

millions,  sent  nearly  five  thousand  clergy 
men,  chosen  out  of  the  best,  to  keep  un- 
soiled  the  religious  character  of  the  men, 
and  made  gifts  of  clothes  and  food  and 
medicine.  The  organization  of  private 
charity  assumed  unheard-of  dimensions. 
The  Sanitary  Commission,  which  had 
seven  thousand  societies,  distributed, 
under  the  direction  of  an  unpaid  board, 
spontaneous  contributions  to  the  amount 
of  fifteen  millions  in  supplies  or  money — 
a  million  and  a  half  in  money  from  Cali 
fornia  alone — and  dotted  the  scene  of  war, 
from  Paducah  to  Port  Royal,  from  Belle 
Plain,  Virginia,  to  Brownsville,  Texas, 
with  homes  and  lodges. 

The  country  had  for  its  allies  the  river 
Mississippi,  which  would  not  be  divided, 
and  the  range  of  mountains  which  carried 
the  stronghold  of  the  free  through  western 
Virginia  and  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  to 

57 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
the  highlands  of  Alabama.  But  it  in 
voked  the  still  higher  power  of  immortal 
justice.  In  ancient  Greece,  where  servi 
tude  was  the  universal  custom,  it  was  held 
that  if  a  child  were  to  strike  its  parent,  the 
slave  should  defend  the  parent,  and  hy 
that  act  recover  his  freedom.  After  vain 
resistance  Lincoln,  who  had  tried  to  solve 
the  question  by  gradual  emancipation,  by 
colonization,  and  by  compensation,  at  last 
saw  that  slavery  must  be  abolished  or  the 
Republic  must  die ;  and  on  the  first  day  of 
January,  1863,  he  wrote  liberty  on  the 
banners  of  the  armies.  When  this  procla 
mation,  which  struck  the  fetters  from 
three  millions  of  slaves,  reached  Europe, 
Lord  Russell,  a  countryman  of  Milton 
and  Wilberf orce,  eagerly  put  himself  for 
ward  to  speak  of  it  in  the  name  of  man 
kind,  saying:  "It  is  of  a  very  strange 
nature ;"  "a  measure  of  war  of  a  very  ques- 
58 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
tionable  kind;"  an  act  "of  vengeance  on 
the  slave  owner,"  that  does  no  more  than 
"profess  to  emancipate  slaves  where  the 
United  States  authorities  can  not  make 
emancipation  a  reality."  Now,  there  was 
no  part  of  the  country  embraced*  in  the 
proclamation  where  the  United  States 
could  not  and  did  not  make  emancipation 
a  reality.  Those  who  saw  Lincoln  most 
frequently  had  never  before  heard  him 
speak  with  bitterness  of  any  human  being ; 
but  he  did  not  conceal  how  keenly  he  felt 
that  he  had  been  wronged  by  Lord  Rus 
sell.  And  he  wrote  in  reply  to  other 
cavils:  "The  emancipation  policy  and  the 
use  of  colored  troops  were  the  greatest 
blows  yet  dealt  to  the  rebellion;  the  job 
was  a  great  national  one,  and  let  none  be 
slighted  who  bore  an  honorable  part  in  it. 
I  hope  peace  will  come  soon  and  come  to 
stay;  then  will  there  be  some  black  men 
59 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
who  can.  remember  that  they  have  helped 
mankind  to  this  great  consummation." 

The  proclamation  accomplished  its  end, 
for  during  the  war  our  armies  came  into 
military  possession  of  every  State  in  re 
bellion.  Then,  too,  was  called  forth  the 
new  power  that  comes  from  the  simulta 
neous  diffusion  of  thought  and  feeling 
among  the  nations  of  mankind.  The  mys 
terious  sympathy  of  the  millions  through 
out  the  world  was  given  spontaneously. 
The  best  writers  of  Europe  waked  the 
conscience  of  the  thoughtful  till  the  intelli 
gent  moral  sentiment  of  the  Old  World 
was  drawn  to  the  side  of  the  unlettered 
statesman  of  the  West.  Russia,  whose 
Emperor  had  just  accomplished  one  of 
the  grandest  acts  in  the  course  of  time  by 
raising  twenty  millions  of  bondmen  into 
freeholders,  'and  thus  assuring  the  growth 
and  culture  of  a  Russian  people,  remained 
60 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

our  unwavering  friend.  From  the  oldest 
abode  of  civilization,  which  gave  the  first 
example  of  an  imperial  government  with 
equality  among  the  people,  Prince  Kung, 
the  secretary  of  state  for  foreign  affairs, 
remembered  the  saying  of  Confucius,  that 
we  should  not  do  to  others  what  we  would 
not  that  others  should  do  to  us,  and  in  the 
name  of  his  Emperor  read  a  lesson  to 
European  diplomats  by  closing  the  ports 
of  China  against  the  war  ships  and  pri 
vateers  of  "the  seditious." 

The  war  continued,  with  all  the  peoples 
of  the  world  for  anxious  spectators.  Its 
cares  weighed  heavily  on  Lincoln,  and  his 
face  was  plowed  with  the  furrows  of 
thought  and  sadness.  With  malice  toward 
none,  free  from  the  spirit  of  revenge,  vic 
tory  made  him  importunate  for  peace ;  and 
his  enemies  never  doubted  his  word  or  de 
spaired  of  his  abounding  clemency.  He 
61 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
longed  to  utter  pardon  as  the  word  for  all, 
but  not  unless  the  freedom  of  the  negro 
should  be  assured.  The  grand  battles  of 
Fort  Donelson,  Chattanooga,  Malvern 
Hill,  Antietam,  Gettysburg,  the  Wilder 
ness  of  Virginia,  Winchester,  Nashville, 
the  capture  of  New  Orleans,  Vicksburg, 
Mobile,  Fort  Fisher,  the  march  from  At 
lanta,  and  the  capture  of  Savannah  and 
Charleston,  all  foretold  the  issue.  Still 
more,  the  self -regeneration  of  Missouri, 
the  heart  of  the  continent;  of  Maryland, 
whose  sons  never  heard  the  midnight  bells 
chime  so  sweetly  as  when  they  rang  out  to 
earth  and  heaven  that  by  the  voice  of  her 
own  people  she  took  her  place  among  the 
free;  of  Tennessee,  which  passed  through 
fire  and  blood,  through  sorrows  and  the 
shadow  of  death,  to  work  out  her  own  de 
liverance,  and  by  the  faithfulness  of  her 
own  sons  to  renew  her  youth  like  the  eagle 
62 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
— proved  that  victory  was  deserved  and 
would  be  worth  all  that  it  cost.  If  words 
of  mercy,  uttered  as  they  were  by  Lincoln 
on  the  waters  of  Virginia,  were  defiantly 
repelled,  the  armies  of  the  country,  mov 
ing  with  one  will,  went  as  the  arrow  to  its 
mark,  and  without  a  feeling  of  revenge 
struck  a  deathblow  at  rebellion. 

Where  in  the  history  of  nations  had  a 
Chief  Magistrate  possessed  more  sources 
of  consolation  and  joy  than  Lincoln?  His 
countrymen  had  shown  their  love  by 
choosing  him  to  a  second  term  of  service. 
The  raging  war  that  had  divided  the 
country  had  lulled ;  and  private  grief  was 
hushed  by  the  grandeur  of  the  result. 
The  Nation  had  its  new  birth  of  freedom, 
soon  to  be  secured  forever  by  an  amendment 
of  the  Constitution.  His  persistent  gentle 
ness  had  conquered  for  him  a  kindlier  feel 
ing  on  the  part  of  the  South.  His  scoffers 
63 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

among  the  grandees  of  Europe  began  to 
do  him  honor.  The  laboring  classes  every 
where  saw  in  his  advancement  their  own. 
All  peoples  sent  him  their  benedictions. 
And  at  this  moment  of  the  height  of  his 
fame,  to  which  his  humility  and  modesty 
added  charms,  he  fell  by  the  hand  of  the 
assassin;  and  the  only  triumph  awarded 
him  was  the  march  to  the  grave. 

This  is  no  time  to  say  that  human  glory 
is  but  dust  and  ashes,  that  we  mortals 
are  no  more  than  shadows  in  pursuit  of 
shadows.  How  mean  a  thing  were  man, 
if  there  were  not  that  within  him  which 
is  higher  than  himself;  if  he  could  not 
master  the  illusions  of  sense,  and  discern 
the  connections  of  events  by  a  superior 
light  which  comes  from  God.  He  so  shares 
the  divine  impulses  that  he  has  power  to 
subject  interested  passions  to  love  of  coun 
try,  and  personal  ambition  to  the  ennoble- 
64 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
ment  of  his  kind.  Not  in  vain  has  Lincoln 
lived,  for  he  has  helped  to  make  this  Re 
public  an  example  of  justice,  with  no  caste 
but  the  caste  of  humanity.  The  heroes 
who  led  our  armies  and  ships  in  battle  and 
fell  in  the  service— Ly on,  McPherson, 
Reynolds,  Sedgwick,  Wadsworth,  Foote, 
Ward,  with  their  compeers — did  not  die 
in  vain ;  they  and  the  myriads  of  nameless 
martyrs,  and  he,  the  chief  martyr,  gave 
up  their  lives  willingly  "that  government 
of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the 
people  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

The  assassination  of  Lincoln,  who  was 
so  free  from  malice,  has  by  some  myste 
rious  influence  struck  the  country  with 
solemn  awe,  and  hushed,  instead  of  excit 
ing,  the  passion  for  revenge.  It  seems  as 
if  the  just  had  died  for  the  unjust.  When 
I  think  of  the  friends  I  have  lost  in  this 
war— and  many  have,  like  myself,  lost 
65 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
some  of  those  whom  they  most  loved — 
there  is  no  consolation  to  be  derived  from 
victims  on  the  scaffold,  or  from  anything 
but  the  established  union  of  the  regener 
ated  Nation. 

In  his  character  Lincoln  was  through 
and  through  an  American.  He  is  the  first 
native  of  the  region  west  of  the  Alle- 
ghanies  to  attain  to  the  highest  station; 
and  how  happy  it  is  that  the  man  who  was 
brought  forward  as  the  natural  outgrowth 
and  first  fruits  of  that  region  should  have 
been  of  unblemished  purity  in  private  life, 
a  good  son,  a  kind  husband,  a  most  affec 
tionate  father,  and,  as  a  man,  so  gentle  to 
all.  As  to  integrity,  Douglas,  his  rival, 
said  of  him:  "Lincoln  is  the  honestest  man 
I  ever  knew." 

The  habits  of  his  mind  were  those  of 
meditation   and   inward   thought,   rather 
than  of  action.    He  delighted  to  express 
66 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
his  opinions  by  an  apothegm,  illustrate 
them  by  a  parable,  or  drive  them  home  by 
a  story.  He  was  skillful  in  analysis;  dis 
cerned  with  precision  the  central  idea  on 
which  a  question  turned,  and  knew  how  to 
disengage  it  and  present  it  by  itself  in  a 
few  homely,  strong  old  English  words 
that  would  be  intelligible  to  all.  He  ex 
celled  in  logical  statement,  more  than  in 
executive  ability.  He  reasoned  clearly,  his 
reflective  judgment  was  good,  and  his 
purposes  were  fixed ;  but,  like  the  Hamlet 
of  his  only  poet,  his  will  was  tardy  in 
action;  and  for  this  reason,  and  not  from 
humility  or  tenderness  of  feeling,  he 
sometimes  deplored  that  the  duty  which 
devolved  on  him  had  not  fallen  to  the  lot 
of  another. 

Lincoln  gained  a  name  by  discussing 
questions  which,  of  all  others,  most  easily 
lead  to  fanaticism;  but  he  was  never  car- 

67 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
ried  away  by  enthusiastic  zeal,  never  in 
dulged  in  extravagant  language,  never 
hurried  to  support  extreme  measures, 
never  allowed  himself  to  be  controlled  by 
sudden  impulses.  During  the  progress  of 
the  election  at  which  he  was  chosen  Presi 
dent  he  expressed  no  opinion  that  went 
beyond  the  Jefferson  proviso  of  1784. 
Like  Jefferson  and  Lafayette,  he  had 
faith  in  the  intuitions  of  the  people,  and 
read  those  intuitions  with  rare  sagacity. 
He  knew  how  to  bide  time,  and  was  less 
apt  to  run  ahead  of  public  thought  than  to 
lag  behind.  He  never  thought  to  elec 
trify  the  community  by  taking  an  ad 
vanced  position  with  a  banner  of  opinion, 
but  rather  studied  to  move  forward  com 
pactly,  exposing  no  detachment  in  front 
or  rear ;  so  that  the  course  of  his  Adminis 
tration  might  have  been  explained  as  the 
calculating  policy  of  a  shrewd  and  watch- 
68 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
ful  politician,  had  there  not  been  seen 
behind  it  a  fixedness  of  principle  which 
from  the  first  determined  his  purpose  and 
grew  more  intense  with  every  year,  con 
suming  his  life  by  its  energy.  Yet  his 
sensibilities  were  not  acute;  he  had  no 
vividness  of  imagination  to  picture  to  his 
mind  the  horrors  of  the  battlefield  or  the 
sufferings  in  hospitals;  his  conscience  was 
more  tender  than  his  feelings. 

Lincoln  was  one  of  the  most  unassum 
ing  of  men.  In  time  of  success  he  gave 
credit  for  it  to  those  whom,  he  employed, 
to  the  people,  and  to  the  providence  of 
God.  He  did  not  know  what  ostentation 
is;  when  he  became  President  he  was 
rather  saddened  than  elated,  and  his  con 
duct  and  manners  showed  more  than  ever 
his  belief  that  all  men  are  born  equal.  He 
was  no  respecter  of  persons,  and  neither 
rank  nor  reputation  nor  services  over- 
69 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
awed  him.  In  judging  of  character  he 
failed  in  discrimination,  and  his  appoint 
ments  were  sometimes  bad ;  but  he  readily 
deferred  to  public  opinion,  and  in  appoint 
ing  the  head  of  the  armies  he  followed  the 
manifest  preference  of  Congress. 

A  good  President  will  secure  unity  to 
his  Administration  by  his  own  supervision 
of  the  various  Departments.  Lincoln, 
who  accepted  advice  readily,  was  never 
governed  by  any  member  of  his  Cabinet, 
and  could  not  be  moved  from  a  purpose 
deliberately  formed;  but  his  supervision 
of  affairs  was  unsteady  and  incomplete, 
and  sometimes,  by  a  sudden  interference 
transcending  the  usual  forms,  he  rather 
confused  than  advanced  the  public  busi 
ness.  If  he  ever  failed  in  the  scrupulous 
regard  due  to  the  relative  rights  of  Con 
gress,  it  was  so  evidently  without  design 
that  no  conflict  could  ensue,  or  evil  prece- 
70 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
dent  be  established.  Truth  he  would  re 
ceive  from  anyone;  but  when  impressed 
by  others  he  did  not  use  their  opinions  till 
by  reflection  he  had  made  them  thoroughly 
his  own. 

It  was  the  nature  of  Lincoln  to  forgive. 
When  hostilities  ceased  he,  who  had  al 
ways  sent  forth  the  flag  with  every  one  of 
its  stars  in  the  field,  was  eager  to  receive 
back  his  returning  countrymen,  and  medi 
tated  "some  new  announcement  to  the 
South."  The  amendment  of  the  Consti 
tution  abolishing  slavery  had  his  most 
earnest  and  unwearied  support.  During 
the  rage  of  war  we  get  a  glimpse  into  his 
soul  from  his  privately  suggesting  to 
Louisiana  that  "in  defining  the  franchise 
some  of  the  colored  people  might  be  let 
in,"  saying:  "They  would  probably  help, 
in  some  trying  time  to  come,  to  keep  the 
jewel  of  liberty  in  the  family  of  freedom." 

71 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
In  1857  he  avowed  himself  "not  in  favor 
of"  what  he  improperly  called  "negro  citi 
zenship;"  for  the  Constitution  discrimi 
nates  between  citizens  and  electors.  Three 
days  before  his  death  he  declared  his  pref 
erence  that  "the  elective  franchise  were 
now  conferred  on  the  very  intelligent  of 
the  colored  men  and  on  those  of  them  who 
served  our  cause  as  soldiers;"  but  he 
wished  it  done  by  the  States  themselves, 
and  he  never  harbored  the  thought  of  ex 
acting  it  from  a  new  government  as  a 
condition  of  its  recognition. 

The  last  day  of  his  life  beamed  with 
sunshine,  as  he  sent  by  the  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  his  friendly 
greetings  to  the  men  of  the  Rocky  Moun 
tains  and  the  Pacific  slope;  as  he  contem 
plated  the  return  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  soldiers  to  fruitful  industry;  as  he  wel 
comed  in  advance  hundreds  of  thousands 
72 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

of  emigrants  from  Europe;  as'  his  eye 
kindled  with  enthusiasm  at  the  coming 
wealth  of  the  Nation.  And  so,  with  these 
thoughts  for  his  country,  he  was  removed 
from  the  toils  and  temptations  of  this  life 
and  was  at  peace. 

Hardly  had  Lincoln  been  consigned  to 
the  grave  when  the  prime  minister  of 
England  died,  full  of  years  and  honors. 
Palmerston  traced  his  lineage  to  the  time 
of  the  Conqueror ;  Lincoln  went  back  only 
to  his  grandfather.  Palmerston  received 
his  education  from  the  best  scholars  of 
Harrow,  Edinburgh,  and  Cambridge; 
Lincoln's  early  teachers  were  the  silent 
forest,  the  prairie,  the  river,  and  the  stars. 
Palmerston  was  in  public  life  for  sixty 
years;  Lincoln  for  but  a  tenth  of  that 
time.  Palmerston  was  a  skillful  guide  of 
an  established  aristocracy;  Lincoln  a 
leader  or  rather  a  companion  of  the  peo- 
73 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
pie.  Palmerston  was  exclusively  an 
Englishman,  and  made  his  boast  in  the 
House  of  Commons  that  the  interest  of 
England  was  his  shibboleth;  Lincoln 
thought  always  of  mankind  as  well  as  his 
own  country,  and  served  human  nature 
itself.  Palmerston,  from  his  narrowness 
as  an  Englishman,  did  not  endear  his 
country  to  any  one  court  or  to  any  one 
nation,  but  rather  caused  general  uneasi 
ness  and  dislike;  Lincoln  left  America 
more  beloved  than  ever  by  all  the  peoples 
of  Europe.  Palmerston  was  self-pos 
sessed  and  adroit  in  reconciling  the 
conflicting  factions  of  the  aristocracy;  Lin 
coln,  frank  and  ingenuous,  knew  how  to 
poise  himself  on  the  ever  moving  opinions 
of  the  masses.  Palmerston  was  capable 
of  insolence  toward  the  weak,  quick  to  the 
sense  of  honor,  not  heedful  of  right ;  Lin 
coln  rejected  counsel  given  only  as  a  mat- 
74 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
ter  of  policy,  and  was  not  capable  of  being 
willfully  unjust.  Palmerston,  essentially 
superficial,  delighted  in  banter  and  knew 
how  to  divert  grave  opposition  by  playful 
levity;  Lincoln  was  a  man  of  infinite  jest 
on  his  lips,  with  saddest  earnestness  at  his 
heart.  Palmerston  was  a  fair  representa 
tive  of  the  aristocratic  liberality  of  the 
day,  choosing  for  his  tribunal,  not  the  con 
science  of  humanity,  but  the  House  of 
Commons ;  Lincoln  took  to  heart  the  eter 
nal  truths  of  liberty,  obeyed  them  as  the 
commands  of  Providence,  and  accepted 
the  human  race  as  the  judge  of  his  fidelity. 
Palmerston  did  nothing  that  will  endure ; 
Lincoln  finished  a  work  which  all  time  can 
not  overthrow.  Palmerston  is  a  shining 
example  of  the  ablest  of  a  cultivated  aris 
tocracy;  Lincoln  is  the  genuine  fruit  of 
institutions  where  the  laboring  man  shares 
and  assists  to  form  the  great  ideas  and 
75 


ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
designs  of  his  country.  Palmerston  was 
buried  in  Westminster  Abbey  by  the  order 
of  his  Queen,  and  was  attended  by  the 
British  aristocracy  to  his  grave,  which 
after  a  few  years  will  hardly  be  noticed 
by  the  side  of  the  graves  of  Fox  and 
Chatham;  Lincoln  was  followed  by  the 
sorrow  of  his  country  across  the  continent 
to  his  resting  place  in  the  heart  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  to  be  remembered 
through  all  time  by  his  countrymen  and 
by  all  the  peoples  of  the  world. 


76 


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Bancroft,  G.  B197 

Abraham  Lincoln. 


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